When I took up the challenge of going vegan for a month, I completely forgot that this would include whipping up a vegan birthday cake for my middle son. Who requested that said vegan birthday cake {well, said birthday cake – he didn’t realise it was vegan} be in the shape of a pteranodon. You know, the green flying dinosaurs out of ‘Dinosaur Train’.

Whether it’s your child’s birthday, your friend’s birthday, or a grown-up birthday celebration, everyone loves birthdays! The cake, the presents, the streamers, the clapping, the singing…the celebration of birthdays truly is an act of love, commemorating the anniversary of that special someone’s birth into this world. Celebrating a birthday is such a joyous occasion; and a vegan diet shouldn’t hold you back from making it the best birthday bash ever with the most delicious vegan cakes that will blow any meat-eater’s socks off.

Decide what style you’re aiming for from the get-go and know your guests . If you are catering to a bunch of meat-eaters, include non-scary foods like guacamole with some non-GMO quinoa or corn chips and salsa Think beyond just food and include eco-friendly decorations, like pinwheels, kites and floating flowers. If you’re not sure what to buy your vegan friend then don’t worry, there are lots of vegan gifts available out there.

Instead of having the whole focus of the party being on food , make activities an important piece of the party. The options are endless. Karaoke is a classic that never gets old! Board Games are great for large and small groups. They also allow you to connect more easily with people. Besides, laughing is a great way to burn calories.

Lemonade made with organic cane sugar and fresh lemon juice. Or, better yet, throw a colorful spin on it and serve glasses of green juice. If your party has a specific color scheme, match your juice to it. Orange? Pick carrot juice. Blue? Blueberry juice.

This was the fourth dinosaur inspired birthday cake, plus a set of dinosaur inspired cupcakes that went to preschool on a certain four year old’s birthday} that I have whipped up in my motherhood ‘career’. I feel like, if you don’t have a dinosaur birthday cake, is it even your birthday?

I let the boys pick what they want their cake to look like on their birthday. It’s a tradition that my Mum used to do with me. Except, I would pick a cake out of the ‘Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake’ book- the boys haven’t been taken by anything out of the book. It’s always dinosaurs, dinosaurs, DINOSAURS, but that’s boys, that’s why when I choose their birthday activities is always about races cars and dinosaurs.

    

I tried a few vegan recipes before I found one that worked well. I tried using flaxseed and chia seeds in the beginning as an egg replacement, but I felt it didn’t work in a vanilla cake…just makes the cake look ‘seedy’.

VEGAN BIRTHDAY CAKE

1 and ¾ cups All-Purpose Flour (I used gluten free)
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp Salt
1 cup Soy Milk
2 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
⅓ cup Coconut Oil
1 tbsp White Vinegar

3 and ¾ cups Icing Sugar
3 tbsp Coconut Butter
4 tbsp Soy Milk
Food Colouring

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar, baking soda and salt and mix together.

Add the soy milk, vanilla, coconut oil and vinegar and whisk it in.

Grease a rectangular cake tin with coconut oil, pour in the batter and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and using a toothpick, insert into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean then your cake is done.

Move to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Add the powdered sugar, coconut butter, soy milk and food colouring.

Beginning on low speed, mix with an electric mixer, slowly increasing speed until it is smooth and creamy.

If your frosting is a little thin, add more powdered sugar, if it’s a little thick, add more soy milk. The consistency must be thick enough that it doesn’t slide off the cake, but thin enough to be spreadable.

When your cake is completely cool, add frosting.

Have you ever whipped up a recipe from my blog? I would love for you to let me know…So I don’t feel as if I am just writing all this stuff down for nothing… If you choose to whip up one of my recipes , then I would love for you to share it on social media, and don’t forget to use the hashtag #goodfoodweek.